"Hey, man," said Homeless Jack, "I read this week that some scientist has
recently discovered a new species of shark. There was also a news report
about some others discovering many new species of animals and plants
someplace else. And, so it goes. Hardly a day goes by that we don't
hear of some new species being discovered. It's the spinning, man. The
big turning and spinning and circling and spiraling keep on working. The
shuffle never stops. Species come into existence and go out of existence
all the time.

"You know, the definition of species needs work. The way we mostly use
the word is to say that different animals are of the same species if they
can breed and produce offspring. That definition isn't complete enough.
We also need to factor in the morphological aspects of critters. I mean
it's as though we've totally forgotten that if animals look alike, they
often are alike. Not always, to be sure, but add that morphological stuff
to the breeding stuff and you may have a better idea of what a species
really is. I figure that if it doesn't look like you, man, it ain't you
even if you can mate with it. And, don't forget there are many cases of
supposed animals of different species producing offspring that can also
produce offspring.

"The rise of new species--speciesization--among animals requires isolation
between populations that can interbreed and produce viable offspring. The
isolation can either be geographic or reproductive. What usually happens
in nature is that some animals are cut off from other animals of their
type--carried by the wind or ocean currents to remote islands, for
example, or for some reason some animals "choose" not to mate with similar
animals of their type even though they could produce viable offspring if
they did mate. Then, throw in some mutations and adaptations and other
stuff and you can see why new life forms are always being produced.

"We don't live in a static universe, man. The universe is full of moving
streams and currents and everything is caught up in them and is moved
along. If we do nothing, we may drift where we may not want to drift.
Dashed on the rocks. Swamped and sunk. Who knows? I'm convinced that
we're at the stage of our existence where we can and must start navigating
the currents of existence, man. We need to navigate away from the shoals.
We can't stand still. Our only hope is to start charting our course and
navigating it as best we can, all the while keeping a strong hand on the
rudder to make adjustments as we move along. We can do nothing or we can
do something, but in either case we're moving. We're tiny boats on the
water, man, and there are oceans and streams and rivers and currents all
around us and there is no safe port that we can see with our eyes. That's
why we need higher truths to give us guidance. This is our existence.
It's time for us to start steering in the direction we want to go.

"Most people don't even see this stuff, man. They're just drifting
blindly. Some others who do see some of it, but they have no rudders.
Others have no oars. Some have the wrong maps.

"Look, each of us carries a genetic blueprint inside us for who we are.
This is what makes us who and what we are. This is our essential self.
But, there is not one iron-clad and rigid essential self. Our blueprint
can change as conditions change and can lead to new improved models of
ourselves just like boat manufacturers make new and improved models by
making little changes here and there in their blueprints. Nature is
constantly bringing in newer models. Some work and some don't. But, they
keep coming and the ocean of existence remains.

"You know, we may even go through a major die-off of our type through
blending and more direct forms of killing us. Then, maybe we'll bounce
back and be better than ever as we arise anew from new Adams and Eves. I
don't know about you, man, but I want to be one of those new Adams and
I've navigating my little boat in the currents of existence in the best
way I know to make this the case. I may not catch all the right currents
and I may not be able to navigate around all the shoals, but I'm at least
living intentionally and with purpose and I'm struggling in what I think
are righteous ways for what is right. Beyond that, I can do no more.

"Speaking of this dying off stuff, I was reading that by the start of the
1900's, elephant seals along the Pacific coast had been hunted almost to
extinction and that there were only about 20 elephant seals left. Then,
the hunting ended and the elephant seal population started increasing. Now
there are about 100,000 of the critters but they're all descended from
those 20 that didn't die off. You know what? That means that those 20
that survived acted as the Adams and Eves of their kind and all elephant
seals now living are related to those 20 and have their genes. That also
means that there was a possible genetic turn taken by elephant seals as a
result of hunting. This could be a good thing in the long run or it could
be a bad thing. That's because the variability that was once found among
elephant seals is now gone. They may all be too closely related. If they
all catch some disease, their population may not have a genetic defense
available that they would have had before when they weren't so closely
related. Anyway, time will tell both for them and for us and for all other
living things. But, remember, there's one little difference between us
and elephant seals. We can think about these things and we can,
hopefully, take steps to make sure we keep enough variability to help us
survive, without giving us so much variability that we are no longer us.

"Live long and multiply right, man."

# # #

THREE BOOKS BY HARD TO PIGEONHOLE H. MILLARD

All three books are now listed on Amazon.com.
Just click on the "http://www..." links after each book.
They're also available at quality brick and mortar stores or can be
ordered by them for you.

The lefties at the OC WEEKLY said Millard is one
of OC's most frightening people.

"Millard is an important writer" New Nation
News
"Millard is an original. His books aren't like your typical fiction.
If you don't know where to put his books, try the same shelf with
Kerouac,
Kafka, Sartre and Nietzsche" - a reader.

Ourselves Alone & Homeless Jack's Religion
messages of ennui and meaning in post-american america by H. Millard
In Ourselves Alone and Homeless Jack's Religion, H. Millard, the hard to pigeonhole author of The Outsider and Roaming the Wastelands, has put together some of his category bending commentaries on post-American America. The commentaries deal with politics, philosophy, free speech, genocide, religion and other topics in Millard's edgy style and lead up to Homeless Jack's Religion, in which Homeless Jack lays out revelations he found in a dumpster on skid row. Browse Before You BuyISBN: 0-595-32646-3